Terror in Taormina

You may soon be seeing this picture posted in the Taormina post office (we look rather harmless and nice, don't you think?). But so far here is our list of offenses:
* one of us inadvertently kicked over a ceramic angel in a cramped souvenir shop on the glitzy Corso Umberto, and left without paying for it;
* another of us dropped a kitchy 1940's figurine at the Villa Parmina which the cleaning lady, Tiziana, says we have to pay for but which we argue was already broken;
* one of us (we're not naming any names but it's the innocent-looking one in pink in the picture) has transformed her rental car into a cash for clunkers candidate (how's an American driver in a fat car to know that that intriguing-looking alley would get narrower and narrower the farther into it she drove?!).
Through it all, we've managed to stay level-headed; drinking helps; even Mom is getting into it as you can see from this picture of us eating chestnuts; notice all the empties lined up near Mom.

See what I mean...so it's a good thing we only have 2 days to go!

On Tuesday, after the usual morning mishaps (like driving down, down, down into town for the umpteenth time and still getting lost; or driving back up to the villa and arriving in a cloud of burning clutch fluid--we'll have to check that later), we drove in tandem to the vineyard Murgo where a lovely lunch and wine-tasting awaited us.

This is the gracious Pietro Scammacca, owner of the vineyard, one of 8 brothers, who had the flu but nonetheless agreed to take us around to tour the wine-making operation.


And here are a few more pictures of our activites in Taormina. The first is Donna, daughter number 5, with the Sicilian Soccer Team.



Next is of me buying chestnuts from a vendor on the side of a road

Another of Cathy, daughter number 6, buying something at the outdoor market near our villa

One of me and Mom buying mapinas at the outdoor market today!

And finally--It's what's for dinner tonight!!!!